Identifier: flowerbeeplant00love (find matches)
Title: The flower and the bee; plant life and pollination
Year: 1918 (1910s)
Authors: Lovell, John Harvey, 1860-1939
Subjects: Fertilization of plants
Publisher: New York, C. Scribner's sons
Contributing Library: The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden
Digitizing Sponsor: The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden

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h butterflies. Mueller further ob-served that orange-hued composite flowers, such as hawks-beard (Crepis aurea) and orange hawkweed (Hieracium auran-tiacum) are a veritable playground in sunny weather forbutterflies of fiery-red color. Two copper-colored butterflieswere also observed to fly to the bright-red fruits of the sorrel.This remarkable correlation certainly deserves careful consider-ation by students of the color-sense of insects. There would seem to be no a priori reason why red butter-flies may not be strongly influenced by red flowers. The orna-mental coloring of their wings is largely the result of sexualselection; and, since the different sexes readily recognize eachother, it is not improbable that in seeking nectar they arespecially attracted by flowers of the same color as themselves.This view is strengthened by the fact that blue butterflies mayshow a preference for blue flowers, e. g., blue species of Lycoena,have been seen to favor the blue blossoms of Phyteuma. 134
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Fig. 63. Red Phlox. Phlox paniculata A butterfly-flower THE FLOWER AND THE BEE Red waves of light, as is well known, excite attention andare seen where other hues are passed by unnoticed; they arethe longest waves of the solar spectrum and, like long oceanicwaves, possess a great amount of energy. Are not red flagsconstantly used for signals, and do not soldiers to-day avoidwearing scarlet uniforms? In moderation red is a warm, stim-ulating color, and is frequently used in wearing apparel, in pic-tures, and in the decoration of walls and ornaments; but inexcess it produces irritation and anger. It enrages the turkeygobbler of the farmyard and excites the Texas steer to madness.Physicians tell us that people living continually in bright-redrooms are apt to be irritable and quarrelsome, but that whenthe walls are painted a quieter hue, as pale blue or drab, thesenervous symptoms speedily disappear. Edible berries are more often red than any other color.Bird-flowers are almost invariably

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